Texas Woman Sues City Over Ruptured Breast Implant

Normally, the worst-case scenario envisioned when a person sets out to buy cookie dough is that the grocery store is out of the preferred brand. But, according to Rebecca Van Hooser, her routine trip to the grocery store led to an encounter with police that she says has cost her physical health - and now she is suing the Texas city of Pantego.

In Oct 2011, Rebecca Van Hooser drove to a nearby grocery store in order to buy cookie dough. On her way there, she was pulled over by Pantego police officer Eric Alvarez for driving without her headlights on. That violation led Alvarez to discover that she had a warrant for an unpaid speeding ticket, so he arrested her.

Van Hooser's attorney Susan Hutchison said to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, "She gets out of the car, [the officer] grabs her, throws her against the car, spreads her legs - kicks - spreads her legs and grabs her arms and forcefully pulls them out and yanks them very hard behind her back."

Hutchison says that, when the officer pushed Van Hooser against her car, the force caused her breast implant to rupture and leaked fluid into her body. Following the incident, Ms. Van Hooser spent a night in jail. But she said, via her attorney, that the incident has had repercussions for her since then. Her lawyer said that Van Hooser has had two hematomas, or blood clots, as a result. The arrest also will cause Van Hooser to need a partial mastectomy, a tissue transplant, and an entirely new breast implant.

Pentago Police Chief Thomas Griffith declined to comment to reporters at the Dallas Star-Telegram, but the City Manager Sean Fox said that the city is looking into the allegations lodged against Officer Alvarez. There have not been any previous allegations toward Officer Alvarez, however, and the town says that its police officers always conduct themselves professionally.

Rebecca Van Hooser's lawyer said that it was not yet determined how much she was seeking in damages.